Fire-alarm system.



D. G. DEE.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED IEB. Io. I9I3.

T 934.3 Patented May15,1917.

STATES PATENT DAVID G. DEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ROCHESTER H. ROGERS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK,

FIRE-ALARM SYSTEM.

Application filed February 10, 1913.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, DAvID G. DEE, oi Chicago, in the county ot Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new- 'and useful Improvements in Fire-Alarm Systems; and i do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

rThe present invention relates to lire alarm systems, having reference particularly to their application to telephone lines whereby an alarm may be sent in over the telephone line from any subscribers station, and it has for its object to provide a system of this character adapted for use with magneto telephone lines, provision being made for sounding a iire alarm at the central oiiice upon the manual operation of the alarm boX at a subscribers station, and also for sounding a trouble alarm at the central office in -case or a permanent grounding on the line.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end oi the specification.

rhe drawing is a diagrammatic view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the in vention, and showing its application to a telephone line of the magneto type.

The subscribers circuit is designated at A, being provided with the usual answering jack J and drop D at the central oilice, and with the receiver R, transmitter T, battery B, and ringing bell C, at the subscribers station, arranged as usual in magneto telephone lines.

The line A is connected from the subscribers station to the central office through the spring contact a, which is arranged in the alarm box E, as shown, and adapted to be controlled by the alarm wheel c, in a manner that will presently be described. The alarm box E is connected to ground at (il and adapted to be connected to the subscribers circuit through the spring Contact d, which is engaged by the alarm wheel when the latter is rotated, closing the circuit as many times as there are projections on the alarm wheel and thus giving the proper number of impulses or signals to the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May i5, 19t?,

serial No. 747,309.

central olice, corresponding to the number ot' the alarm boX, all. as will hereinafter be made clear. The alarm boX is preferably actuated by a hand lever, not shown, the movement of which serves to wind up a spring mechanism, and when the hand lever is released, the alarm wheel is rotated by said spring mechanism to send in the alarm, in a manner that is well known in the art of iire alarm boxes.

The lire alarm circuit is completed at the central oliice, being bridged off from the telephone line through 'a switch S, there being one such switch for cach telephone line, a second line A" being shown in the present embodiment, connected to the tire alarm circuit by the switch C.

The fire alarm circuit is connected to ground at G through a battery B", and relays R, R2, there being provided one relay in the iire alarm circuit for each telephone line, as shown. rihe relays R and R2 control the armatures F, F', and F2, F3, respectively, one pair ot armatures for each subscriber-s circuit, armatures F, F2 being arranged to control the alarm mechanism, and the armatures l", LFS being arranged to control a trouble sigal that will presently be doscribed.

lfhe fire alarm compri the tap bell H, and register l, these being inclu/decl in -a circuit with the battery and armature l?, Thus, whenever the aiarm box E is operated to close the lire alarm circuit, the latter is grounded at and G, battery 3 serving to energize relay R and thus cause the armature F to ciose the circuit which it controls, whereby the tap bell H and register K are operated by battery B2 to give the fire signal, indicating the particular box that has been actuated.

In case of a permanent ground on the subscribers line, it is desirable to give an indication of such trouble to the central oilicc, and to this end l provide a continuously ringing bell L arranged in the circuit with armatures F', F3, and battery B3, by which the bell is operated when armature F or F3 is operated by its respective relay to close the circuit. In this manner, in case of a ground anywhere in one of the subscribers lines, the signal L will operate to give an indication of the trouble. rlhe particular line `on which it occurs can then be determined and such line out out of the system by its respective switch S, S', and so forth, until the trouble is corrected.

In some cases, there may be a break on one side of the subscribers line, and in order that the alarm may be transmitted to the central ofiice over the other side under such condition, I provide a supplemental connec tion M with the other side of the subscribers circuit, and arrange a spring contact n, adapted to be engaged by the contact (l When the latter is raised by thev alarm Wheel. Upon initial movement o1c the alarm Wheel, the alarm circuit is closed through contact fl, and upon further movement, also through contact a so that in case of a break on either side of the subscriber-s line, or a reversal of the current, the impulses of the alarm Wheel will be transmitted to the central o''rice through one side of the line or the other, and the alarm given.

It will be noted that in the normal operation ot' the system, the drop D will be operated at the time each alarm is given and in case several alarms should be given simultaneously, or should follow each other in close succession, causing confusion in the operation of the register, the numbers ot the respective boxes can be determined 'from the drops.

While I have shown the invention in a particular arrangement, it is to be understood that I am not limited to the precise combination of elements herein shown and described, but intend to cover by this application any modifications of the systemV as may come Within the terms or" the claims hereinafter.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a fire alarm system for magneto tolephone lines, the combination with a subscribers metallic circuit terminating in a spring cut-off line jack, adapted for the insertion of an operators connecting plug, and a ring-down drop adapted to be eliminated from the subscribers circuit upon the insertion of the operators connecting plug in the spring cut-off line jack, of a fire alarm circuit connected to both sides of the subscribers circuit and to ground, whereby the ring` down drop Will be operated when the operators connecting plug is inserted in the line jack aforesaid.

2. In a fire alarm system for magneto telephone lines, the combination With a subscribers metallic circuit terminating in a spring cut-off line jack adapted for the insertion of an operators connecting plug, and a ring-down drop connected to both sides of the subscribers circuit, of a iire alarm circuit connected to the subscribers circuit and to ground, an alarm boX in the ire alarm circuit, a battery and relay also included in the fire alarm circuit, an alarm controlled by said relay, and means for closing the fire alarm circuit when the alarm box is open4 ated, the subscriber-s circuit being closed when the alarm box is idle and open When the alarm boX is operating.

3. In a fire alarm system for magneto telephone lines, the combination with a subscribers metallic circuit terminating' in a spring' cut-ofi1 line ack adapted for the insertion of an operators connecting plug, and a ring-down drop connected to the subscribers circuit, of a iire alarm circuit normally open and connected to the subscribers circuit, and an alarm controlled by the fire alarm circuit and adapted to bc'opcrated when the latter is closed, and means for closing the fire alarm circuit through either side of the subscribers circuit.

4. The combination with a subscribers line circuit, of an open alarm circuit connected to both sides of said subscribers line circuit and to ground, a normally open auX- iliary alarm circuit, a normally open trouble alarm circuit, and a relay in said alarm circuit for simultaneously closing both the auX- iliary alarm circuit and trouble alarm circuit upon the closing of a circuit through either side of the subscribers circuit and the ground. Y

5. The combination with a subscriberis line circuit, including a ring-down drop bridged across the same, of a normally open alarm circuit connected to both sides of said subscribers circuit and to ground, and means operable upon the alarm circuit for despatching impulses over either side oithe subscribers line circuit and the ground irrespective of the connections between the drop and the subscribers line circuit.

DAVID G. DEE. lVitnesses:

E. L. GAREN, GERALD I-IOYT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Fatents, Washington, D. C. 

